Throwback Thursday: On This Day in Redskins History – 1947

On this day in Redskins history in 1947, Slingin’ Sammy Baugh led the Washington Redskins to a stunning 45-21 dismantling of the Chicago Cardinals.

It was 70 years ago, but Baugh was posting modern numbers in the game he was revolutionizing. He completed 25 of his 33 passes for 355 yards, with an incredible 6 of those passes for touchdowns. That would be an impressive statline for any quarterback on any Sunday, let alone in 1947.

Redskins Dick Poillion had an impressive and interesting scoreline that day too. He put up 15 points on the strength of one touchdown pass, one field goal, and six PATs.

Paul McKee led all Redskin receivers with 7 receptions for 103 yards, including touchdown receptions of 4 and 28 yards, while Hugh Taylor (34 yards), Sal Rosato (16 yards) and George Wilde (9 yards) all had a touchdown reception each.

The win came at Griffith Stadium with 35,362 in attendance.

Read more

Relative Quarterback Ratings: Honolulu Hughes to Jason Campbell

While trying to distract myself from the fact that a Gus Frerotte vs. Norv Turner Super Bowl is still a possibility, I took a look at Sammy Baugh’s statistics. I was surprised to see his rookie season quarterback rating: 50.5, an incredibly low number by today’s standards. Even Heath Shuler (sorry, Congressman Heath Shuler) never posted a mark that low when he wore the burgundy and gold. Yet Baugh’s 1937 campaign was not only good enough to guide the Redskins to their first NFL Championship, but it was also good enough to lead the league in quarterback rating. 71 years ago, the league average quarterback rating was just 34.4.

Read more